Arrogance
by Heather Giesbrecht
Summary: Ariel had just wanted a quiet day at work with her brother, not have some haughty English Lady slap her. Implied Thomas/Lucille, Thomas/Edith. Complete.


**Arrogance**

Ariel Constanza sighed as she smoothed the fresh dark brown blanket over Room 107's bed. She was just happy that it was in pristine condition. Her little brother, Daniel, was still back in Room 106 cleaning up the last of Mrs. Henry's sick. Mrs. Henry had treated herself and Daniel well considering that an hour ago they'd gotten yelled at for stripping Room 55's bed of its bodily fluid and alcohol soaked bedding. When she straightened and looked up she startled to see that a man wearing a dark blue suit now stood outside the doorway.

She must have gasped or some such because the man said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." in an English accent. The pale skinned man reminded her quite a bit of her former suitor, Hunter Mayhew, with his lithe build.

"It was not your fault, sir, I was not paying attention. If you can wait a bit longer I will have everything out of your way in a second."

"Oh there is no need to rush truly. I arrived in Buffalo not an hour ago and am still trying to acclimatize myself to the queerness."

He just sounded so amiable that she found herself instinctively rejoining, "It is scary the first few nights, but I hope you can enjoy yourself." Embarrassed at her likely unwanted personal intrusion she slipped past him down the hallway.

Five feet back was Daniel standing beside the cart, an olive-skinned hand raised to his lips to stifle his laughter. "Are the English wooing you yet again, sister ? Papa is right, you need to improve your taste."

Gently, she teased, "Unless you managed to confound a woman with your half-witted charms while smelling of sick then, no, they are not."

"Ah, you wound me. Shall we go replace the sheets in the Lady's room now ?"

"Lady ? Lady who ?"

Daniel pointed over her shoulder, "Room 107 is Sir Thomas Sharpe's room, Room 108 is his sister the Lady Lucille's room."

Ariel half-twisted to see the door of 107 closing after a tall, black haired woman. Since it was now empty they went to change the bedding in Lady Lucille's room then continued on with their work which went much smoother afterward. Nearly three weeks to the day blurred by without a great upset before she actually encountered the Lady Lucille in person.

It was late afternoon and she was passing the room when the door suddenly opened and a courteous yet cold voice said, "You, house keeper, come help me dress."

Briefly confused, she turned to look in the dressing gown-clad woman's direction, "Your pardon, but me, my lady ?"

A pair of cold, light blue eyes stared into her with a barely veiled disdain, their owner gestured outward. "Yes, you or do you see another standing in this hallway ?"

"I don't and I would be honoured to help Your Ladyship."

"As you should be. Now quickly child or I should be unpresentable for my little brother." For some reason a half-smile crossed Lady Lucille's lips at her last words and she laughed to herself.

She entered the room to see a ten or more years old, long-sleeved, scale-patterned crimson silk bustle evening gown laid out on the bed. That was one thing she hadn't been able to help, but notice the Sharpes might've been aristocracy, but they didn't seem to have any new outfits. Of course, to be polite she murmured, "It is quite a beautiful dress, Lady Lucille."

Yet another hair-raising laugh, "It belonged to my mother."

No matter that she was feeling tenser by the minute she helped Lady Lucille first into her corset then into the evening gown itself. Finally, she moved onto the lady's hair. It took hours to put the neck length black hair up into loose waves on the sides and pull it back on the top into three tiny buns. To hold everything in place she used a few gold topped hairpins and a ruby-studded silk hairnet. The lady had chosen gold and garnet, or perhaps they were ruby, drop earrings with which to accessorize the dress. The last thing she helped Lady Lucille with was putting rouge on her lips, by the time everything was finished it had turned to early evening.

Lady Lucille turned to her and asked, "What do you think, child ?"

Being careful not to meet her eyes she looked the older woman over. "You look gorgeous, my lady, any man would die if it meant he could dance with you."

Thwack ! A gasp left her lips as she clutched her suddenly stinging cheek.

Haughtily, the lady raised her chin then sneered, "I asked what you thought, I did not give you permission to look at me."

Never would she be quite as thankful as when Sir Thomas called, "Lucille ? Lucille are you ready to leave yet ?" from just inside the room.

In an instant the lady's demeanour changed a small smile crossing her lips and she walked out. There seemed an over emphasis when the lady wondered, "Well, don't we look handsome, Thomas ?"

"If I should look near so beauteous as you we would get nowhere for want of trying, dear sister. Now, come along the carriage is already waiting and we don't want you arriving late."

Only when the aristocrats had left the room did she splash some cold water on her cheek. Forty minutes later she stood in the foyer as Daniel's shift ended and he walked up to her. His eyebrows raised in concern, "Ariel, who did that to you ? Where is the bastard, where is he ?" Daniel cast about angrily as if for a fleeing thief.

Warmed by his concern she put a hand on his arm, "Not a man, but the Lady Lucille. She asked me to help her dress for a ball that herself and Sir Thomas were going to and I made the mistake of looking at her."

"She is higher than us in society, but that does not mean she should be able to get away with hitting you."

"Getting angry on my behalf does you no good, it is over, you cannot change it."

Very early the next morning near seven o'clock she found Room 107's door open and Sir Thomas packing his things into a black leather trunk. When he had closed and taken his trunk off the bed, he looked up at her. The man's dark blue eyes were dull, but he immediately became concerned, "Oh dear, whatever happened to your face ?"

Nervously, she linked her hands behind her back and glanced over at his sister's room. Sir Thomas followed her gaze, "I know it is the second time I've apologized to you, but I'm sorry. When formal occasions occur she can work herself into a snit and then take it out on others that she deems less important."

"It is alright, are you checking out now ?"

A faint nod, "It is already done." The man picked a light beige packet of some kind, "Could you bring this to the front desk for me ? It needs to be delivered soon as possible."

She accepted the packet, noticing that there was also a letter of some sort slipped between the packing twine. "Of course, I will do it right away, Sir Thomas."

"Thank you, if you want to know I did enjoy myself, now if you'll excuse me." Sir Thomas walked past her and she followed him into the lobby. When she'd given the package to James the concierge and relayed the instructions, she went back to Room 107. Daniel had waited for her so that they could clean the room together.

Two hours later, they had scoured the bathroom and floor, polished the armoire and taken the bedding off and replaced it. All the while she had wondered what was in Sir Thomas's package, just what the letter had contained. If it'd been an official message, a letter to a friend or maybe even a love letter of some kind. They were just folding back the blanket's edge when there was the sound of running feet before a woman gasped, "Thomas !"

Both herself and Daniel looked up to see a blond haired woman in the doorway. Sympathy rushed through her when she answered, "They checked out earlier, just in time for the morning train." and the golden-clad woman's face turned crestfallen as tears gathered in her eyes. They watched the pale woman turn and walk away listlessly.

Ariel glanced at Daniel, "Oh that poor thing, she's heartbroken for sure. Sir Thomas must've really swept her off her feet."

Her brother had kept looking down the hall, he chuckled suddenly, "Take another look because I don't think she's so poor any more."

Rather confused she turned to see that Sir Thomas hadn't actually left or else the woman was wrapped in a secret twin's embrace. "Aww, he really does care about her." Then she couldn't resist, "If only you inspired half that devotion, Daniel, you'd be married already."

"Eh, I can be charming and handsome too ! Comparing me to him that's just not fair."

"Your right he's handsomer than you any time."

"Hey !"

With a grin she replied, "I jest, I jest."

Daniel closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. They returned to work and she hoped that whoever the woman was she would be happy with Sir Thomas.


End file.
